EAGLE ROCK, Mo. -- The construction permit is on hold for a poultry farm for 65,000 chickens within a mile of Roaring River State Park in southern Barry County.  An administrative hearing judge found one owner of adjoining property to the proposed chicken farm may not have legally given her permission for operating the chicken-growing operation without a 1,000-foot buffer zone from her home, which she shares with her husband.

   One of the poultry farm's developers and owners, Michelle Ozbun, calls the delay a temporary hurdle.  She said in mid-July that construction was done on three of the four main buildings for the poultry farm. Michelle and Rodney Ozburn borrowed a million dollars to build the new chicken-growing operation.

   The state Administrative Hearing Commission plans to hold a hearing in January on the administrative hearing judge’s stay of the construction permit.  That hearing could start Jan. 7 and last four days.

  Other neighbors don't want the farm, known as a confined animal feeding operation (CAFO), near their backyards.  They’ll be able to speak at the hearing in January.  After the Administrative Hearing Commission hears testimony, it’ll issue a recommendation but the final decision on the construction permit will be up to the Clean Water Commission.

  Once construction is done, the Department of Natural Resources has to grant an operating permit for the CAFO.  That likely won’t happen until after the appeal is decided on the construction permit.

  If an operating permit is granted, opponents will be able to appeal it in the same way: to an administrative hearing judge, the Administrative Hearing Commission, and then the Clean Water Commission.

  The Ozbuns plan to raise pullets under a contract with George’s Processing plant near Butterfield.  They contend all the waste will be properly captured and disposed so it won’t affect ground water quality.